Drop chart issues

i use a rock on a rope [ easy to see ] and a yard stick above it.

So i went to the range today set up a 4'x2' paper and had my zero at 100 yards. On this test i aimed at the 100 yard zero through out the whole thing. My 100 yard zero was good. I made marks at 12moa 24moa and 36moa. After i had my zero i dialed 12moa and shot 1" high then dialed 24moa from my zero and was two inches high and then dialed 36moa and was 2.5" high. That might explain why i was shooting 20" high at 1000.
What do u think guys?

That sounds like it could be the culprit, you may need to correct your adjustments by 10%.
Another factor for the 1000 yard shooting could be the direction you are shooting.

so i went back to the range and did what sam did in his video. The first time i did it i was just measuring the 1" and not the 1.047" to my moa elevation so thats why i thought i didn't have a true 1/4 moa tracking scope. But thanks for all the info guys. This was my results.
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The center circles are about 1/2". The top windage are less. I first shot the three shot group at the bottom circle then dialed up to 600 then 800 then 1000. Then adjusted to the right shot two adjusted to left shot one then went back to the top right circle, then back to 100 and saw my impact way right and got nervous but then realized i forgot to go back to zero on my windage. Then finally shot the last 4 shot group at 100.

The 100yd. ZERO you started with was already 1/2moa high. (that's ~5" of error @ 1K, right there)

Then, your return to zero is back to correct elevation, but is now 1/2moa right?

Assuming you've got a solid, accurate LR load, I wouldn't want to see that kind of deviation for return to zero.
Sum ting wong with the scope, but you still might have a bigger issue with that much vertical discrepancy in your load...

If its any solace to you, I had a similar instance over the weekend. Was shooting woodchucks (prone) with my 7WSM, and was getting some goofy vertical & missing high. This rifle/load is ridiculously accurate, so was really scratchin' my head about it. Figured my scope shat the bed & was none too pleased about that possibility! I always scrutinize the optic, FIRST!

Went back and shot on my farm, and my load was deadballz on. Ran the turrets to the pins, and shot 360, 440, 550, 650 with dead center elevation using my proven dope. But, on that particular farm, I was still missing a few inches high between 4-500yds?
This was two consecutive days, cold bore zero shot @ 100yds. I'm so critical of my gear, that I took a picture to document any potential issue. As you can see, its a "one holer"...


After removing the scope as a likely culprit, the only thing I could think of was atmospherics. Then it dawned on me. I was shooting across ~250-300yds of freshly plowed black dirt on a bluebird sunny day. Being that I was shooting prone, could be possible that the black dirt was baking in the Sun enough to actually create a bit of lift over that distance??? Mirage was a be-otch, that's for sure! After re-proving a proven scope and re-shooting proven dope, that excuse was all I could chalk the error up to be???

Just sayin', you're not the only one who's experienced some weird stuff! Try to stay as scientific as possible when diagnosing, and hopefully you'll be able to nail something down. In the meantime, I'd remain somewhat critical of your scope...

Good luck!

So I am a little confused here. When testing the scope tracking you always aim at your zero mark? I don't have my scope in front of me but it seems like when I dial up for longer shots the retical moves up so if I were to aim at my zero mark I would have to aim my gun low to have the crosshairs on the ZERO mark which would have me aiming low.

I may be overthinking this....


Nevermind after thinking about it it would lower the reticle. Makes sense now.

So do u think i should go try the same scope test i did about and see what happens and then headout to the big range and shoot a 600 and 800 and 1000 and see what happens there also? Are the mark 4 known for some tracking problems.

Mark 4's have had some issues. If the test you did at 100 tracked fine, then it tracks. At the big range if you are off, it isn't the scope, it's the data input.

Did a tracking test again and when I get into my second rev my wind age is always way off and this time when I went back to zero it wasn't even close. It's on it's way to leupold. I have ran nightforce for a long time and have been using mark 4 on my hunting rifle to light them up a bit but love the dependability I have had with NF. Have any of you guys ever had any tracking issues with the nightforce?

Retterath said:

Did a tracking test again and when I get into my second rev my wind age is always way off and this time when I went back to zero it wasn't even close. It's on it's way to leupold. I have ran nightforce for a long time and have been using mark 4 on my hunting rifle to light them up a bit but love the dependability I have had with NF. Have any of you guys ever had any tracking issues with the nightforce?

Click to expand...

Nope...

My NF's track great. I have a Mark 4 on my work rifle and it tracks great. But I have had other Mark 4's on some work rifles and had a few issues with them tracking the way they should. It is tough to beat the durability and reliability of a NF.

So your saying to prepare for disappointment with a VX3?

ordered a 2.5-10x42 NF for my hunting rifle yesterday

Smart move...